Follow Sean Inman to the best in craft beer
There is a lot of draining news from inside and out of the craft beer world but it is not all bad out there and Hop Culture has turned the spotlight onto some people who are really making waves large and small but all for good.
Read it right HERE and then tell me you do not want to go to the Barrel & Flow Festival or have a truly pastry driven beer from Brown Girl’s Brews.
We head to Europe, specifically the Czech Republic for FUZE. A French restaurant in Prague with a brewing operation.
We will go from light to dark starting with TransFUZE the Czech Pils then moving on to FUZEnáč 13 what they call their semi-dark lager and then finish up with InFUZE 14 their dark beer. And while there they also have beers from Brewery Zichovec to compare and contrast.
I am not one for Best of the Year lists, more of a in the moment person so I am grateful for outlets like Hop Culture that go in on the whole look back at a whole year thing. You can read their list HERE and my second choice from the list is Deep Fried Beers in Athens, New York.
Not the most appetizing name for a shop known for their IPAs and rocketing up Empire State best of lists but let’s find a table to set our virtual taster down onto including…
Kilometer Long Stare – “Hazy Double IPA hopped with 8+ lbs / bbl of Citra and Galaxy.”
Built Different Batch 2 – “Hoppy Ale brewed with 8 lbs / bbl of lot selected Yakima Chief Citra, Freestyle Hops Nelson Sauvin, and HPA Galaxy.”
In Da Clurb, We All Fam – “Hazy DIPA hopped with 9+ lbs per bbl of Yakima Chief Citra, NZ Hops NZ Cascade, and Freestyle Hops Nelson Sauvin.”
I am not one for Best of the Year lists, more of a in the moment person so I am grateful for outlets like Hop Culture that go in on the whole look back at a whole year thing. You can read their list HERE but first a visit to the Yakima Valley and one of the breweries on the list, The Outskirts Brewing Co.
We start the flight off with an award winning pale ale….
Canyon Crusher Pale Ale – “Light, crisp American pale with notes of Citrus and tropical fruit cup. Too aromatic to be a traditional pale, but too crushable to be a traditional IPA. Hits right in the middle in the perfect way. This recipe won 1st place pale at the 2023 Fresh Hop Ale Fest and People’s Choice at Public House Pre-Harvest Party.”
Barn Raiser NW IPA – “Our flagship IPA. Big notes of Pine, Citrus and Dank (cannabis). Great beer for the IPA fan. Still very clean, but with the extra kick an IPA drinker is looking for.”
My Oh My IPA – “We hit a home run with this one, just in time for baseball season. Go M’s! A clean and clear IPA with huge aromatic notes of berry, pineapple and tropical fruit. Medium body, with a sweet (but not malty) backbone and low bitterness.”
There is a really good series of articles over at Hop Culture about Czech beer and brewing. This link sends you to an article about tapsters but there is a really cool fresh hop Budvar piece and a piece about the Kazbek hop too.
Hop Culture, the allied beer writing arm of Untappd, came out with their best beer labels of 2023, which you can check out right HERE.
With a few exceptions, I was not in agreement with picks because there was a certain gothic swirly tattoo darkness to a lot of labels plus Humble Sea whose labels for sure stand out but are not for me.
But enough of my side eye, I want to point out that two of my favorites from SoCal were on the list. Brouwerij West and Everywhere Beer Co. A tip of the hat to them.
It seems like the beer world is challenging my now shakier stance against variety packs. I skew more towards single sku’s. But Sierra Nevada, Firestone Walker amongst others have me shifting. And that shift is even more evident in this cool box from Hop Culture / Untappd / Halftime that features a Prideful group of beers. Check out the list HERE.
Our final stop for January is in San Jose, California at Fox Tale Fermentation. And boy do they have some fun ingredients in their beers.
Time to pick some projects for the taster tray…
Plant Cultura – Oaxacan Green Corn Lager
Magic Monday – Farmhouse Ale with fresh pressed Asian Pear Juice.
Fung Shui – Farmhouse Ale with Candy Cap Mushrooms
Legend of Pandan – Tiki Inspired Golden Ale with Macadamia, Coconut and Pandan.
Next up from my reading of Hop Culture’s Best of 2022 list is Bizarre Brewing in Seattle, Washington. Such an interesting line-up of beers with spelt and oats everywhere.
The Sun Myth Unfiltered Czech-Style Pilsner – “The Sun Myth is our little Czech-style pilsner. Mashed with pilsner and chit malt, The Sun Myth was then hopped in the kettle with a blend of Saaz and Hallertau Mittelfrüh hops. This little nod to Winter was then fermented cold and allowed to naturally carbonate itself. Once carbonated, The Sun Myth went through a long cold lagering phase making it extra crisp.”
Dinkel Hell Bavarian-Style Spelt Ale – “Dinkel Hell is our spin on the weisse hell biers of Bavaria. Our take started with pale pilsner malt and a large portion of flaked wheat. We then added a generous amount of spelt malt. Hopped lightly with German Saphir, this pale spelt ale was then fermented very cold with our favorite hefeweizen yeast strain for a nice long maturation.”
Teenage Jesus Oat Bitter – “Teenage Jesus is our riff on an English ordinary bitter. Mashed with a base of pale English malt, flaked barley, caramunich and a portion of caramelized oat malt, we then hop this little bitter with East Kent Goldings, Challenger and Comet hops. Once Teenage Jesus has cooled down we pitch our favorite English ale strain and allow it to ferment before spunding to naturally carbonate.”
Steam Noir Dark Lager – “Steam Noir is our riff on a traditional steam beer. We took the same steam concept of fermenting a lager at warmer temperatures and applied it to a dark lager. This version was brewed with pilsner, Maris Otter, chocolate, caramel and spelt malts. It was then hopped with Styrian Gold, Cascade and Tettnanger. Steam Noir was put into a blend of port and red wine barrels cold, then allowed to naturally warm until it was finished fermenting. Once finished, Steam Noir was lagered in barrels cold for an additional four weeks.”
Hop Culture did a round-up of best breweries in 2022 and it was a wide ranging list. This month, I will highlight three with the first being Mahalo Aleworks. This Maui brewery has a super cool train station style arrivals graphic for their beers, so let’s take a peek…
You can start with a traditional English Brown Ale or a Vienna Lagale. If you are in the mood for Belgian, they have a dry hop Saison or the more traditional Farmhouse Saison. Sours are their as well, Mango and Tropical last time I checked. Then to finish you can head for their Rum Barrel Aged Imperial Stout.